The Body of a Man, the Soul of a Tiger
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: For some of the select few, the day that they die can be the day that they actually live. To live for the first time, you have to die for the first time, breaking from chains of shame. Likely Shinji/Rei, but it has to develop over the course of the story.
1. The Body of a Man, the Soul of a Tiger

Creation began on 02-29-16

Creation ended on 02-29-16

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Body of a Man, the Soul of a Tiger

A body floated in the water as it drifted towards land. It was a young man, probably fourteen or fifteen years old, Asian, with dark hair, dressed in black pants and a white, button-up shirt. A large, red spot was on the left side of his chest, right where his heart would be.

 _This was me…on the day that I died._ A boy's voice could be heard, as the body ended up on a beach. _If there had been an obituary, it would have read, "The uninteresting life of an uninteresting teen". Survived by no one that cared, and lived for no one that mattered. Not even himself. Fortunately, there was no obituary needed for such a person. Why? Because the day that I died…was also the day I started to live._

Gasp! The boy came to and looked around himself, seeing that he was on a beach.

 _But that comes later,_ the boy's voice said, as the boy himself got up and started walking.

To be continued…

A/N: Anyone feel like this could involve the Angels and Evas later?


	2. Father Doesn't Know Best

Creation began on 03-01-16

Creation ended on 03-01-16

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Father Doesn't Know Best

He was angry now. Gendo couldn't deny this. Somehow, without even trying, his son had found the one-in-one-hundred pearl shaped like a star in a box of cereal…and won a cruise trip for six to Sapporo…and he wasn't letting it go to waste simply because of an unexplained feud between the Angels and mankind. What disgusted him about it, however, was that one of five he invited to go with him was Rei, and she accepted, despite him telling her not to.

 _Who does he think he is?_ He wondered; he had never been able to go on a cruise with Yui at the time she was alive, and yet Shinji was willing to go on a cruise with a girl he barely knew. _He needs to be handled._

-x-

Even though she was invited, Asuka didn't think Shinji should have been able to find the stupid pearl that was shaped like a star. In truth, she just didn't like his degree of luck when it came to whatever he did, whether he was trying or not. Ever since the last Angel that was one, giant of a bomb, she hated him more. And he had invited the First Child, too, which she found annoying because she didn't like her.

At least Shinji allowed her to bring Hikari with them. This allowed the cruise to be, in her mind, a little better for her.

The invitee list was Asuka, Hikari, Ayanami, Misato and Toji. Shinji had tried to invite Kensuke, but he declined to go videotape a military vessel. Apparently, animals, such as Pen-Pen, didn't count as people, so the warm-water penguin didn't need a ticket.

"Well, at least Misato's enjoying herself," said Shinji, as he saw Misato sitting by the pool area being waited on by several men while he looked out at the ocean water, enjoying his alone time.

"Ikari-Kun?" He turned to his right and saw Ayanami, dressed in an all-blue version of her school uniform. "Might I accompany you in looking at the water?"

"Huh? Oh, um…sure, Ayanami," he obliged, and she placed her hands on the railing.

It was only the second day of the cruise, and it was already approached the evening hours. The moon was out and everything.

"It's nice," he heard Ayanami say.

"What is?" He asked her.

"The moon," she explained.

"Yes, it is."

Asuka, who was also sitting by the pool area, watched the two, and was disgusted. She wanted to say something about this to Hikari, but the best friend was spending time with Toji on the opposite side of the ship.

-x-

"…Just make sure he's handled the moment he stops in Sapporo," Gendo said to someone over the phone in his office, and then hung the phone up.

On his desk were several sheets of paper that detailed the Third Child's synchronization ratio with Unit-01. However, they were of the tests that were after the Eighth Angel that nearly detonated the entire city and much of the surrounding landmass into an extension of the ocean…and how he had put his son down for wanting to leave the city at risk just to go on a cruise.

"It would appear that your talk with him only lowered his sync ratio with Unit-01, which, in turn when we tried the compatibility test with Unit-00, made him more vulnerable to mental injury when that part of the test failed," Ritsuko Akagi informed him.

"It is of no concern," he told her, since completion of the Dummy System was within two more days' time. "His usefulness is at an end."

To be continued…


	3. Junketsu and Senketsu

Creation began on 03-01-16

Creation ended on 08-08-16

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Junketsu and Senketsu

A/N: I couldn't think of any other way to appropriate the title of this chapter, so just go with the flow. I hope to get back to _Modern Day Legend of a Rage-filled Anchor_ later after this chapter.

To reach Sapporo, they had to travel from the cruise ship and Otaru to reach that city. Thankfully, there were several tour buses available to get Shinji and his invitees to their destination. The city itself was among the only ones left in Japan that were untouched by the effects of Second Impact, leaving it a relic from the previous century. Even the hotel they were now inside was one of those relics because of its old age, something Asuka found unsettling and annoying.

"Welcome, welcome!" An elderly woman greeted them. "It's been so long since this place had new faces! Please, make yourselves at home while you're getting settled into your rooms!"

The one thing that made the fifteen-story building stand out among the other buildings was its occupation of feline inhabitants. There must've been at least thirty of them, uncaged and scattered around the lobby.

"Don't mind them," the lady told them. "They're harmless."

When Shinji got the key to his room, he found that his was probably the most spacious, for it was the size of Misato's flat.

"Whoa," he uttered, and sat his bag on the bed.

"Mew," he turned to the windowsill and saw two cats on it. "Mew."

The bigger cat was some sort of hybrid with spots and stripes while the smaller cat was white with dark paws, a face and tail. Unfortunately, Shinji knew nothing about cat breeds or names, having never been around them when he lived with his aunt and uncle. All he ever knew about them was that they were now a rare species; even just one cat was worth at least the equivalent of eight-hundred dollars or more.

"Must not be true around here," he told himself, since there were many cats.

He explored the rest of the hotel and found Misato by another pool; he was starting to wonder if the woman really enjoyed pools or if this was because Mr. Kaji wasn't around to annoy her. Along with her, he found Asuka and Hikari examining the hotel's library, since it was ancient and full of old books that were before the invention of the e-books. And Toji himself was over by an room that had a tennis court.

 _It seems like everyone's enjoying themselves,_ he thought, but noticed that Ayanami wasn't around.

"Um, Misato, have you see Ayanami anywhere?" He asked the purple-haired woman.

"No. I think she's still in her room."

And so he left to Ayanami's room, wondering if she would accompany him to venture around the streets of the city.

-x-

"…Ikari, you know that there won't be any Angel-related incidents while they're gone," said Fuyutsuki to Gendo in his office. "Why the insistence that Rei Ayanami decline to accompany your son and the others while they're at Sapporo? It's among the only places left in Japan that didn't suffer after Second Impact."

Gendo didn't answer him, but the Sub-Commander suspected it was because of his personal dislike towards his son for many things, including being able to win a cruise trip.

"Is keeping her that close really that important to you?" Fuyutsuki asked him, and he still wouldn't answer back.

-x-

Rei had never seen such a livelier city in her life. All she really knew were school, NERV and Tokyo-3. To see Sapporo in such a state of activity was beyond amazing for her. The scenery, the people out and about, and the fact that Shinji invited her to come with him out here was what gave it such a good feeling in her mind.

"Ikari-Kun," she spoke up, "I really appreciate you inviting me to accompany you out here."

"You're welcome, Ayanami," he responded, and then pointed to Sapporo TV Tower. "Would you care to see the observation deck of the tower? I heard it's supposed to give a good view of the city."

"Um…yes."

They walked towards the tower and entered the lift after acquiring their tickets to get to the observation deck.

"Oh, my gosh," went Shinji, seeing a nice view of the city (it was nice, mainly due to fact that weren't many tall buildings around, allowing the people and tourists to partake in the display around them).

Rei, on the other hand, had never seen such a grand view of any city. This was just beautiful and beyond reason. Through a periscope, she could get a closer look at the buildings and people below her. The mountain far from the city and even the park neighboring the tower. It was…such a great feeling she had.

"Mew," Shinji heard a cat mewing, and turned to side of the deck where there were benches, seeing two cats that looked like the two that were in his suite.

-x-

"…What's with all the cats, ma'am?" Hikari asked the elderly woman that managed the hotel building. "There's so many."

"Oh, child, cats are a rare species now because of that calamity from fifteen years ago," she explained. "Not many people can appreciate comfort of endangered animals, such as dogs and cats, that used to be as common as the seagulls. Some people that still have cats and dogs tend to breed them, to get them off the endangered species list. It has been done with several species of fish and ferrets."

A white cat climbed onto the table and laid down on its back in front of Hikari.

"I see Hiei has taken a liking to you," she told the girl.

"Stop following me!" They both looked over at Asuka, who was being followed by a black cat.

"And once again, Aoi has taken a liking to people that she finds unpredictable."

-x-

Resting comfortably in his bed after having a good time out with Ayanami, Shinji (once he was sure he wasn't being followed by any of those cats from earlier) had called it a day.

Creak! He heard something, and looked near the windows…and saw one of them opened.

 _I closed that window,_ he thought, getting out of bed to close the window.

A hand reached out of the darkness…and grabbed Shinji from behind!

"Mmm!" He gasped, unable to scream because his mouth was covered.

-x-

"Hmm?" Rei looked out at the moonlight that illuminated her room, but couldn't see anything that was out of the ordinary.

-x-

"…Okay we're far out for anyone to hear us or even care," said a man in front of Shinji on the speedboat. "Let's feed him to the sharks."

He didn't even recognize any of these men that just broke into his hotel suite, and now they were going to kill him.

"Sorry, kid," another man said, pointing a gun at his chest. "It's nothing personal. You have nobody to blame…except perhaps your old man."

 _What?! My father?!_ He thought, and heard the sound of the trigger being pulled.

BANG! The bullet was loud, but the pain that followed was quick…and silencing.

Because he was at the back of the boat, he fell down…and what was left of him was forced into the water by the men.

"Easiest money we ever made," another man said as they hauled away from where the body was dumped. "Let's go get our payment."

As they fled, the dead boy's remains drifted in the ocean water. But unbeknownst to them, the currents drifted him towards land, not away from it. Time seemed to become meaningless as the body shifted through the small waves, floating aimlessly as they drifted it closer towards a small patch of beach.

"Meow!" A cat cried out, looking down at the corpse that washed up on the sand. "Meow! Meow!"

A second cat appeared, a white cat with a dark face, paws and a tail, accompanying the other cat, a grayish-white one with dark spots and stripes.

"Meow!" They both went, and suddenly…more cats started to show up along the dunes and rocks.

They gathered around the corpse, but made no attempt to approach it because of the first two cats that showed up. They climbed atop the corpse's legs, made their way towards the chest and closer to the head. The striped and spotted cat was on the left and the white and black cat was on the right. They opened their mouths and unleashed a misty wisp of air at the mouth of the corpse.

The dead boy's eyes, which had been glazed over to signify death, suddenly shifted and became cat-like, but only momentarily…as they blinked and returned to normal.

GASP! Shinji gasped as he coughed up ocean water and breathed in new air, revitalizing his lungs.

He looked around himself, seeing that he was on a beach somewhere. Then, he looked up at the night sky, seeing a seagull.

"Caw!" He heard it, and then saw it come much closer at him.

"Aaah!" He panicked and quickly moved off the soaked sand and onto the soaked rocks. "What?"

He looked back up at the sky, but saw the seagull further away from him.

Tap, tap, tap. He heard something moving on the ground…and turned and saw a spider.

But it looked larger than a normal spider. Its sight and distance made Shinji reach out to try and squash it, just to get rid of it. It sped away from danger…and suddenly, Shinji couldn't see it, anymore.

"What?" He questioned, and then got up and got away from the beach.

-x-

Somehow (and he wasn't sure how), Shinji made it back to Sapporo. The very streets of the city were quiet now, enabling him to get around undetected. This was most likely due to the crime wave being less than thirty percent here on account of the competence of the police force and how Second Impact reduced most of the city's list of crimes to simple burglary and domestic abuse. He was in some sort of haze, as he didn't seem to be aware of anything at the moment. Not even the fact that he was in the alleyway behind the hotel…or that his leg movements were spread out, predatory and hunched.

He stopped in front of a fire escape, and then jumped up…ten feet into the air…and landed on the lowest portion of it. Standing in front of a window that reflected his present state, all the boy could see was a filthy teen with a bloody gash on his shirt, right above where his heart would have been. The eyes, once full of a sense of longing and a measure of happiness…were now dull and full of something that seemed…less than human. He looked down at his hands, covered in muck, and then shattered the glass open to enter the building.

"Meow!" One of the two cats from earlier went, as they watched from atop a nearby dumpster as the boy disappeared inside the building. "Meow."

To be continued…

A/N: To those that pressure me into continuing _The Fall of Ra_ , it's being picked up and progressed in a stable fashion. Not everything comes quickly enough to simply resume. That writer, Deathwish911, they just stopped with the _Evangelion_ story _Breakthrough_ , and that was a good story.


	4. The Morning After

Creation began on 08-08-16

Creation ended on 06-20-17

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Morning After

Gasp! Shinji awoke and fell out of bed, landing on his palms and feet, looking around his hotel suite, seeing nobody there.

 _What? What happened?_ He wondered, unable to recall anything that had happened last night after he and Ayanami had returned to the hotel.

Knock-knock-knock! Someone knocked at his door and caught his attention.

"Um, who is it?" He called out.

"It's Misato," the person responded. "Are you alright?"

He ran to the door and opened it to meet the purple-haired woman.

"I'm fine, why?" He answered and asked her.

"We think there was a break-in last night, so security is checking up on the guests," she explained.

Shinji then poked his head out of the room and into the hallway, seeing several other people being questioned by some policemen.

"Did you hear anything unusual last night?" Misato asked him.

"No," he answered her. "I didn't hear anything. I slept like a rock last night."

 _He seems different from yesterday,_ she thought; she couldn't put her finger around the reason, but she viewed the young teen as a different person from the previous day. _What could it be?_

"Mew," they both heard the few cats in the hall as they either sat near the walls or ran around. "Mew."

"Sometimes, I think we got the bad hotel in the city," Misato expressed.

"Oh, no, we got a good hotel," Shinji responded. "There's history and a sense of culture you can't get from a technological version. And you see the original animals that were kept as pets before Second Impact, before they became a rarity."

When it was confirmed that nobody's hotel room had been broken into, the window was replaced and forgotten about. This was also due to the fact that there was no security cameras that caught anyone on video or any forensics to be found. No footprints, no fingerprints, no nothing. And it didn't make any sense as to who would want to break into an old building like this and not steal anything.

"Are you sure there were no videos of anyone breaking in or anything, ma'am?" Hikari asked the elderly woman as she sat at the bar again.

"I'm sure, miss," she answered. "What is it with robberies of today's economy? People could try to rob hotels, but there's no guarantee that anyone who is a tourist will carry much cash or valuables with them. Most would just want to steal cars or commit these… Oh, what do you call them when they're done on a computer?"

"Cyber crimes?"

"Yes, exactly. Thank you. It's a primitive building. There's nothing here that may even be worth stealing…except perhaps my cats and guests."

Soon enough, Shinji came over and sat two seats away from Hikari on the left side.

"Um, could I have a cream soda, please?" He requested. "And, um…a glass of milk, too."

The elder reached under the table and into a mini-refrigerator for the requested beverages.

"And how are you today?" She asked him, handing him a can of cream soda and pouring a cup of milk.

"I can't remember much of last night after falling asleep," he confessed. "I remember coming back after Ayanami and I went to see the tower, but everything else is a haze."

Instead of drinking the can and cup separately, Shinji poured the can's sugary fluid into the cup of milk and drank it, surprising Hikari.

"Meow," went the striped and spotted cat from the previous times Shinji saw it, accompanied by the white cat with the dark face, legs and tail. "Meow."

"Looks like Junketsu and Senketsu have taken a real liking towards you, young man," the lady told him. "They rarely take to anyone besides myself."

"I'm sorry. What?" He questioned; he hadn't been listening.

"Junketsu and Senketsu," she repeated, pointing to the two cats that were now on the table. "They really seem to like you a lot."

Shinji looked at the pair and had to confess, "I've been noticing these two cats more that any others around here. What's with these two, anyway?"

"Junketsu is an Egyptian Mau, the rarest of cat breeds," she explained, "as well as my first cat. Senketsu is a Siamese that I found during my visit to China. They're both said to have been blessed with remarkable gifts and qualities."

"Such as appearing anywhere?" Shinji asked.

"Among others," she responded.

-x-

It was later in the afternoon that Shinji was back in his room, reading one of the hardback books from the hotel library about cats; he wasn't even sure why, but there was just something about them right now that made him want to know what was known about them.

 _I don't understand,_ he thought, looking at the pages that dealt with cat vision, but that wasn't what he was thinking about. _Why can't I remember what happened last night?_

He slammed the book closed and threw it on his bed.

Knock, knock. Someone was at his day…and Shinji just knew that it was Asuka.

"Yes, Asuka?" He spoke as he opened the door to see her.

"Huh?!" She gasped; he hadn't even opened the door yet and he knew it was her. "How in the world did you know it was me?"

"You're the only person I know that uses strawberry shampoo for their hair," he explained.

"But you were in the room and I'm out here in the hallway."

"Good sense of smell."

"Whatever. Anyway, Misato, Wonder Girl and the stooge are looking for you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, they're going to the Sapporo Dome for a ball game, and they're wondering if you care to go with them and have a good time."

"You and Hikari aren't going?"

"Wasn't my idea, but, yeah, we're going, too."

"I'm all for it. Just let me grab my coat."

Asuka then looked past him and asked, "Are those two looking at me?"

"Huh?" He reacted, turning around and seeing the Mau and Siamese behind them on the floor, sitting upright and looking at them. "Okay, I had no idea they were even there."

"You and that stupid pearl you found which got us here in this cat-infested hotel."

"Hard to believe that you're one to complain about vacation time where you don't have to pay for anything but souvenirs."

"With you…I'll complain about anything you do."

Shinji sighed and decided to ignore her complaints about him and grabbed his coat, forgetting about Junketsu and Senketsu.

-x-

The Sapporo Dome was like a dream come true for Toji, who never thought he'd ever get to watch a baseball game within a stadium with a retractable roof. Not even Shinji, who had never been to any ball games, had ever seen such an amazing place like this.

"Whoo-hoo!" Misato cheered for the home team as they scored another home run against the opposing team. "Yeah! Go! Go!"

With the current score being over a hundred in favor of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, the game went into halftime and the intermission permitted the two teams to recoup and think of new strategies to win the game.

"And now we bring you the Kiss Cam!" A man's voice spoke over the loudspeakers, and the Jumbotrons on the walls and center of the dome ceiling showed several people who were being encouraged to kiss in front of everyone.

"Huh?!" Shinji saw Toji and Hikari on the Jumbotron in front of the them. "Oh! Ha-ha!"

Hikari sighed and just went with it, but wanted it to be over quickly because she didn't want to be booed at, and grabbed Toji's head and kissed him.

"Hmm!" Toji gasped, but couldn't use his mouth entirely because Hikari was using it right now.

"Oh, come on!" Asuka yelled. "Do you really have to do that?!"

The people watching cheered on as other pairs were selected and encouraged to kiss.

"Just go with it," went Hikari, relieved that it was over.

Suddenly, the Jumbotrons showed Shinji…and Rei, who was sitting on his right.

"Oh, come on!" Asuka complained again. "You two, as well?!"

But before Shinji could say anything to Rei about it, the albino girl expressed, "This is unnecessary."

"You're going to get booed at," Misato told her, as the crowds encouraged the girl and Shinji to kiss. "Just do it and be done with it."

"Yes, Major Katsuragi," Rei obliged…and kissed Shinji, who was surprised by how Rei simply followed it like an order.

He thought back to the first time he went to Rei's apartment just to drop off her renewed card, and that was as close as he wanted to even think about being with someone that he could actually get to know that was… But he wanted something that was true, not because of other things that were in the way. When she ended the kiss, the Jumbotrons showed a few other pairs before resuming the next half of the game being shown.

-x-

"…Oh, man!" Makoto Hyuga gasped, using his computer to watch the game in Sapporo. "You're all not going to believe who was on the Kiss Cam!"

"What are you talking about?" Maya Ibuki asked him, sliding her chair over to his console and looking at his screen. "No! Those two?! They must be having the time of their lives over there."

Ritsuko, simply out of a childish curiosity, took notice of the pair the two Bridge Bunnies were talking about, and was surprised to see the First Child kissing the Third Child in front of the people present.

 _Yikes,_ she thought, wondering if Gendo should know about this.

-x-

Grip! Shinji caught the foul baseball that nearly hit Asuka in her face, surprising her, Misato and Rei with his quick reflexes.

"Oh!" Asuka gasped; the ball moved so quickly that there had been no time to evade, but Shinji caught it with such lightning speed, saving her face from a blow.

"Um… Do you want the ball, Asuka?" He asked her, just hoping to change the subject because he had no explanation for how he reacted so quickly to catching the ball.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah." She accepted. "Thank you."

He then looked at his right hand, flexing its fingers from catching the ball. Even if the ball hadn't been caught by him, he shouldn't have seen it coming as quickly as he did. It was like the rest of the world was in slow motion, but he was the only person able to react fast enough to keep Asuka safe.

 _How was I able to do that?_ He wondered.

-x-

"…Well, that was an amazing game," went Toji as he and the others returned to the hotel. "Wouldn't you agree, Class Rep?"

"Um, yeah," Hikari responded to him; they both apparently forgot all about the earlier incident with the Kiss Cam. "Well, good night."

She entered her suite while he entered his own, which left Shinji, who stood in the hall, by himself.

"I guess I'll just… I'll be getting some more moo juice," he sighed, walking towards the elevator to go to the first floor. _Why do I think of milk all of the sudden?_

-x-

Gendo was at a loss to what he was seeing in the recording of what was at the Sapporo Dome on the Kiss Cam. It wasn't just the fact that Rei was kissing the Third Child…but the fact that the Third Child was very much alive. In fact, he didn't even look like he had been harmed in any way.

-x-

Loud music from across the street from the hotel kept Shinji from getting much-needed sleep.

"Urgh!" He grunted, getting out of bed and approaching the window where he got a decent view of the building that served as some sort of bar or dance club that was completely inappropriate for younger people. "Hey!"

A trio of adults that were just standing by an open window that was among a few that the loud music spilled out into the night looked up at him.

"Turn it down or turn it off!" He shouted at them.

"Oh, go to Hell!" An indecently-dressed woman shouted back to him.

"Yeah, go to Hell, ya loser!" A bare-chested man on her left added in.

"Forget it, Shinji," he turned to his right on the balcony and saw Misato. "They won't listen to anyone and the police won't do anything."

"What is wrong with people around here?" He questioned, and went to grab his shoes.

He left his suite, followed by his vacationing followers down the hall as he ran across the street from the hotel to the dance club and knocked hardly on the door.

"Shinji, man, it's not really all that loud," went Toji to him.

"What did you say?" Hikari asked him, which begged to differ about the loud music.

The door opened and a large bouncer man stood in front of the younger people, obscuring much of the insanity within the building.

"Sorry, kids, the slumber party is back there," he told them, pointing at the hotel, but then took notice of Misato, "though, there could be an exception for your soccer mom's case."

"She's flattered," Shinji retorted, staring up at the guy in front of them. "I'm going to ask this one time. If you could turn down your racket just a little…"

But the bouncer simply shut the door in front of them.

"…Bit," Shinji finished, infuriated.

"Let's just go back to the hotel," sighed Asuka, but Shinji wasn't having any of that right now.

His eyes, for just a split second, became cat-like, and he raised his arms up.

BASH! The door fell open backwards onto the ground as the boy let himself inside, surprising the half-dressed patrons inside as they were quiet.

Shinji looked at them and then at their loudspeakers on the ceiling as he jumped onto a bar table and grabbed a spray.

"I'll tell you what," he told them all. "How about I just do it myself?"

He sprayed alcohol at the speakers, shorting them out.

"Hey, hey! Stop that, kid!" The bouncer shouted, but Shinji sprayed him after half of the eight speakers were shorted out.

"What'd you say?" He asked, then looked at his companions. "Could y'all hear a thing he said? Is the music still too loud?"

They silently nodded that it was, and he resumed spraying the remaining speakers, successfully shorting them all out.

"Hey!" The bouncer shouted at him, and everyone heard him, too.

Shinji jumped off the bar table and onto the bouncer, knocking him off his feet and onto a square table, surprising him with how light and nimble the fourteen-year-old boy seemed in order to do that.

"You all hear that?" Shinji asked them, grabbing a beer bottle by its top and breaking its base off to turn it into a weapon. "Y'all hear that?!"

This time came the positive nods from the patrons surrounding the boy.

"That…is called silence. Peaceful and quiet. And that's all I ever asked from you. Now, keep it down!"

The bouncer nodded that they would.

"And thanks for the party invite. I sure had fun."

-x-

"…You're kidding, right?" Ritsuko asked Misato the morning after over the phone in her office. "Shinji actually did that?"

"He did, and it worries me a little," Misato responded. "He broke a door down and jumped a bouncer to a table. It was like…he was doing it…but it wasn't him doing it. It was like he was another person."

"Well, he is a teenager, so he has hormones that make him act up in ways that are different from the way an adult would behave."

"Maybe, but not like this. Not like how he did so."

-x-

"Ikari-Kun?" Rei spoke to Shinji, seeing him atop the roof of the hotel, sitting on the ledge.

"Yes, Ayanami?" He responded.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine. I'm doing fine. How are you?"

"I am well."

Shinji then got up, but did so in a backflip to get onto his feet.

This surprised Rei, as he didn't seem like the type of person that studied any degree of gymnastics or martial arts.

"How are you able to do that?" She asked them, now just wanting to know about last night. "How were you able to break down a door and jump that man? You…you were never seen or reported doing any of what you did last night. It's…unheard of."

"I don't know how I was able to do any of that. I just…did it." He told her; even he wasn't sure, and then he looked up and saw the hotel manager and cat lady.

"I am sorry," she told them, accompanied by Junketsu and Senketsu. "I just overheard a sense of confusion about something that happened last night."

"Who are you?" Shinji suddenly found himself asking her.

"I'm just a hotel owner and cat lady…with a past," she explained. "Kaede Megumi. Some just refer to me as the Cat Lady."

"That sounds very demeaning, Ms. Megumi," Shinji expressed.

"Oh, I view it as a compliment."

The cats walked around Shinji's legs, circling him.

"'Confusion' is a word that I constantly view my perception of the world. What I can't remember the night before last, however… I try to think about it…but I keep drawing up a gap in between the time spent with Ayanami and the moment I woke up."

Suddenly, Junketsu jumped onto Shinji's back and onto his left shoulder.

"The cats… They're very fond of you."

"Meow," Senketsu went, rubbing against his right leg.

"They've never been this fond of anyone…besides me, that is."

Then Ms. Megumi took something out of her pocket and threw it at Shinji, who caught it without hesitation and started rubbing it against his face, sniffing it. It was some sort of rubber ball with points, covered in a smell that was almost hypnotic to the boy. When she took it away from him, a smile formed on her face.

"I see you fancy catnip," she told Shinji, who seemed confused.

"Cat…catnip?" He questioned.

Rei was perplexed, but suspected that this woman knew more than she was saying.

"Please, come down to my room," she requested from them. "You may find what you seek."

Shinji followed her, followed by Rei.

-x-

"…I've never seen that idiot do anything like that before," Asuka told Hikari as they sat by the pool. "And the door… It was… Is this something only some Japanese boys do when they get angry or have an adrenaline rush?"

"This is something that must affect everyone, regardless."

"I only feel powerful when I'm in my Eva. I know martial arts, but that baka… He didn't even seem normal for someone his age."

-x-

Kaede Megumi's home within the hotel was small, but very welcoming. It was like someone built a two-story house within the building, but kept it separate. But it seemed to carry a theme of historical interests that were overlooked. And the cats seemed to be a constant sight, as well.

"This tome here," Ms. Megumi told Shinji and Rei, setting down a large book with a large claw mark on the cover. "The deities that are often associated with beasts. One particular deity is the Egyptian goddess Bastet."

"She was viewed as a cat god," said Shinji; somehow, he just knew that, even though he had never learned a thing about Egyptology or ancient deities besides what was said about God and his messengers half the time.

"And a goddess of the moon and of the sun," she added, and then turned the page to that of a large beast. "This is the Beast of the Western Domains. Byakko, the White Tiger. He represents what can be described as the duality that exists within those blessed by him or his messengers. Courageous…yet calm. Caring…yet fierce. Docile in one moment…and menacing in the next."

"But…what do these deities have to do with what Ikari-Kun is capable of?" Rei asked.

"You say that you have absolutely no memory of what occurred after you two parted ways upon your return to the hotel, to your suite?"

"That's right," Shinji stated.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything between then and when you awoke the next day?"

"I'm sure."

"Then what happened to you must be true."

"Which is?"

"During the time you have no memory of…you died."

"I… What? No. No, I didn't. I mean, I'm right here, talking, breathing."

"You died, young man. But then you were brought back. Junketsu and Senketsu knew of your fate before you did."

"Meow," Shinji turned and saw the Mau and Siamese cats on a nearby counter top. "Meow."

"That's why they followed you around. They had to see if you were worthy of a gift that Byakko could give you like he did so many others. One that could preserve your life by giving you a new one."

-x-

"…If the job was done, then why is he still alive?" Gendo questioned the people he hired to eliminate the Third Child. "I saw him on televised entertainment on a Jumbtron, and he looked unharmed. How do you explain this?"

One of the men explained that they snuck into the boy's hotel suite and took him out to sea where they executed him and dumped him into the water, but Gendo was unconvinced.

"Next time, be sure to have evidence of the execution," he warned them, and hung up. _Incompetent fools. The Third Child returns with the others in a few days, and he'll be none the wiser._

-x-

Misato and the others followed Pen-Pen to this room in the building that served as the hotel manager's residence…just in time to find her pushing Shinji over a railing twelve feet above them.

Gasp! Hikari and Toji were stunned, but not as stunned as what they saw happen next.

Shinji, instead of landing on his back or hitting the table below him, twisted in midair and landed on his arms and feet, looking unharmed…but even more confused by how he was able to survive.

"What the Hell were you thinking, lady?!" Asuka questioned Ms. Megumi; it wasn't out of concern for the boy's safety, but rather his necessity to NERV. "If you kill him, you'll pay irrecoverably!"

"She wasn't trying to kill him," went Rei as Shinji stood up.

"I'm…I'm fine," Shinji expressed, looking at his hands, noticing that his fingertips looked almost like the talons of a beast before returning to normal. "How was I…able to do that?"

"You're not the only one, Mr. Ikari," Ms. Megumi explained, knocking over a pile of papers beside her and Rei, letting them shower like rain across the room. "They have saved others before you. Look at their history."

Shinji looked at the falling papers with everyone else and saw that they were pictures and old articles of strange people, men and women, who demonstrated exploits that earned them recognition and awe, but were virtual unknowns because nobody had ever discovered who they were. Most seemed to demonstrate a theme associated with felines while others exhibited a more canine-like theme, probably because the people back then were unable to get a clear idea of what these people truly were.

"What's going on?" Misato asked them.

"Revelation," answered Shinji to her, looking at a picture of a woman dressed like a black cat.

"The Avatars of Byakko and the other beast deities aren't contained or constricted by the rules of society," Ms. Megumi revealed as they looked at the articles. "You follow your own desires as you walk through life. This is both a blessing and a curse. You'll often find yourself alone and misunderstood, but the freedom you'll experience is one that others around you will never know. Byakko chose you to serve as his avatar, a medium for his power to work through you. Every sight, every smell, every taste, even the sounds around you, all heightened beyond that of a regular man. A fierce independence, absolute confidence in yourself, inhuman reflexes and so much more. Even shape-shifting qualities."

Toji looked at a picture that looked like a guy had become a sort of wolf with human features.

"So…because I was killed…I'm not me, anymore?" Shinji asked her.

"You are you," she clarified, "and you're an Avatar for Byakko. Your death steals not your sense of identity…nor does it obscure your soul."

She then held out a band of some sort with a jewel attached to it, shaped like a heptagon; it was either a choker or a cat collar.

"Accept it, young man," she offered. "You've spent your entire life locked in a cage. By accepting who you are, all of who you are…and that you can be, and you can be free of your restraints. And your freedom…is your greatest power."

Shinji accepted the band from her…and slowly walked out of the room, followed by Junketsu and Senketsu as he returned to his hotel suite.

"What's going on?" Toji asked Rei.

"Ikari-Kun discovered something that was both traumatic and confusing," the albino girl stated.

"And what would that be?" Misato asked.

"The previous night…after returning from a day on the city streets…he somehow died."

"He died?" Asuka questioned, unsure of what was going on. "How did he die, exactly?"

"He does not know."

"Not yet, he doesn't," said Ms. Megumi to them. "His memory of what happened is obscured by the sense of dread he fears recalling. The sooner he accepts the cause of his befalling, the sooner he can put it behind him."

"You said that he died," said Hikari to her. "When you said that, were you referring to the type of death he experienced?"

"I was."

"Then…what happened to him…wasn't accidental?"

"No. I'm afraid not."

"Wait, what are you saying, Class Rep?" Toji asked her.

"I'm saying that Shinji didn't die of natural causes, like sickness and old age. I'm saying… He was murdered. Someone killed him."

-x-

There it was, right there for him to see. The sign that his life was almost ended by someone. And his memory of the previous night so far only recalled the shot to his chest, right through his heart.

 _A shot to the heart,_ Shinji thought, standing in front of a large mirror in his room. _I never thought I'd suffer like that._

"Mew," he heard Senketsu as the Siamese cat caught his attention on his bed with Junketsu.

"You two saved my life that night. Thank you."

"Meow," went Junketsu to him as he placed on the band around his neck.

He had to admit that it did make him stand out a little; he'd never been the type to accessorize with any degree of jewelry or attempt to look gothic or gangster-like, but it did give him a sense of looking better than he used to.

"Still, someone killed me," he uttered, his tone one of anger, "and I want to know who…and why."

-x-

It was a disgrace to their profession to be accused of not doing the job they were paid to do, and the only way to rectify the disgrace was to confirm whether or not the boy the hit was placed on was truly dead. This was the only way to restore their honor as assassins for hire.

"You have the camera?" One of the three men that broke into the Third Child's hotel room that night asked one of the other two as they stood in front of the hotel across the street.

"Yeah," the second man answered, turning the camcorder on to record everything on the tape. "This time, we'll earn the money."

"What I don't understand is how the kid is believed to be alive? He was shot right in the chest and dumped into the water, miles from this city. He had absolutely no hope of survival." The third man stated. "This makes no sense, whatsoever."

"We'll find out the minute we grab him again…and blow his damn head off," the first man expressed, and they ran across the street to the hotel.

To be continued…

A/N: I feel like everyone's asking for chapters and updates to be ready for them when even I try to find reason to continue where I left off with them. Patience, all. Good things come to those that wait.


End file.
